If there’s one thing that did not seem likely during grime’s ferocious eruption into life in the mid-00s, it’s that an MC such as Ghetts – back then, fresh out of jail as the volatile teenage MC Ghetto – might be stepping on stage two decades later to a sellout crowd in a glitzy venue in London’s West End, backed by live guitar licks worthy of Mark Knopfler. Opening with the spooky dark side g-funk of Anakin, the line “I just want my flowers/ Before you lot see me leave” hits with a thudding poignancy.
The 39-year-old Justin Clarke has had an arduous journey to get to this point, but his overdue recognition from the music industry – not least a string of rave reviews and a Mercury nomination for 2021’s Conflict of Interest – makes him the perfect embodiment of grime’s own trajectory. Accepting the Mobo Pioneer award last month, he pointed to his schooling in the tower block pirate radio boxrooms, underground raves and kerbside MC battles, “before legal radio would play us”. One of the tensions grime has faced is the idea that “evolving as an artist” means putting down cherished things, such as the frantic hype of dancehall-style MC-ing and hard-edged minimalist beats Ghetts gained a cult following for – and in exchange, slowing things down and smartening things up.
